Nakaka Nosebleed
Being born in the United Arab Emirates hasn’t helped me in learning my parents’ mother tongues. Tagalog from my dad and Hiligaynon from my mom - which are filipino dialects. There are huge differences between the two dialects. For example, in Tagalog, to show a sign of respect towards the person you are talking to, you incorporate the word “po” somewhere in your sentence. But, in Hiligaynon, the respect is heard in the tone of the speaker. When my mom speaks Hiligaynon, it’s like she’s singing. I used to- wait. Scratch that. I still do like asking her to translate things to Hiligaynon, just so I can hear the sing-song way she would speak.There’s a clear melodic pattern when speaking Hiligaynon, on the other hand, you can speak monotonously in Tagalog while still being respectful.
Let me just add that the majority of vocabulary in these dialects are different from each other. If you were to say, ‘where are you going?’In Tagalog it would be, “Saan ka pupunta?”.In Hiligaynon it would be, “Diin ka makadto?”.See? Very different.
Growing up, I would hear all three languages. With my grandpa speaking English, my grandma speaking Hiligaynon and English, my dad speaking Tagalog, and my mom speaking both dialects but English towards us - it seemed that I and my sister caught enough English for it to be our first language.
Just because English is our mother tongue, of course we’d be able to catch on a few words from the Filipino dialects.
When I was younger, I used to say, “Can you sama me to the bathroom?”
Sama is a Tagalog word for accompany.
Or I would say, “Mommy, where’s the habul?”
Habul is a Hiligaynon word for blanket. But, habul in Tagalog means to chase after.
Having these bursts of my parents’ dialects into my English sentences seemed natural. Plus it always brought a smile on the faces of my family. With speaking, that’s about as Filipino as I can get.In terms of appearances, I think I would be considered as an obvious Filipino; tan skin, dark hair, and ‘asian’ facial features. I remember being in a mall and a Filipina approached me - thinking I’d be able to indulge into a full steams ahead conversation in Tagalog. But to make sure her assumptions were right she had come smiling at me asking:
“Kabayan?”
Short for kasamang bayan, to strangers who come from the Philippines. I had said yes, instead of an “oo po”, which would have been the answer they expected from a normal Filipino.
She had looked at me in surprise and asked, “Kabayan?” Once again even after I had said yes.
Repeating myself I said, “Yes. I’m Filipino.”
“Really?” She said, as if questioning my identity. “Hindi ka nakakaintindi nang tagalog? Do you no understand tagalog?” She translated herself before I could even reply!
“No, don’t worry I understand.”
Despite what I had said, she continued to struggle in communicating where the nearest bathroom was in english. After I had directed her, she walked away but not before I could catch her last words.
“Nakaka nosebleed.”
Nosebleed is Filipino slang for, ‘it’s difficult to talk in English’.
Despite not being able to speak the language doesn’t mean that I’m not a full-fledged Filipino by heart! I’m proud to be apart of a culture that values ‘pakikipagkapwa-tao’ - family, community, hospitality, creativity, humour, and faith. One thing can be said about Filipino heritage is that they’re resilient, hard-working, and can make the best out of any situation they find themselves in.
All this brings to mind my grandmother’s struggles and triumphs to bring us to where we are now. But that’s another story…
Let me just add that the majority of vocabulary in these dialects are different from each other. If you were to say, ‘where are you going?’In Tagalog it would be, “Saan ka pupunta?”.In Hiligaynon it would be, “Diin ka makadto?”.See? Very different.
Growing up, I would hear all three languages. With my grandpa speaking English, my grandma speaking Hiligaynon and English, my dad speaking Tagalog, and my mom speaking both dialects but English towards us - it seemed that I and my sister caught enough English for it to be our first language.
Just because English is our mother tongue, of course we’d be able to catch on a few words from the Filipino dialects.
When I was younger, I used to say, “Can you sama me to the bathroom?”
Sama is a Tagalog word for accompany.
Or I would say, “Mommy, where’s the habul?”
Habul is a Hiligaynon word for blanket. But, habul in Tagalog means to chase after.
Having these bursts of my parents’ dialects into my English sentences seemed natural. Plus it always brought a smile on the faces of my family. With speaking, that’s about as Filipino as I can get.In terms of appearances, I think I would be considered as an obvious Filipino; tan skin, dark hair, and ‘asian’ facial features. I remember being in a mall and a Filipina approached me - thinking I’d be able to indulge into a full steams ahead conversation in Tagalog. But to make sure her assumptions were right she had come smiling at me asking:
“Kabayan?”
Short for kasamang bayan, to strangers who come from the Philippines. I had said yes, instead of an “oo po”, which would have been the answer they expected from a normal Filipino.
She had looked at me in surprise and asked, “Kabayan?” Once again even after I had said yes.
Repeating myself I said, “Yes. I’m Filipino.”
“Really?” She said, as if questioning my identity. “Hindi ka nakakaintindi nang tagalog? Do you no understand tagalog?” She translated herself before I could even reply!
“No, don’t worry I understand.”
Despite what I had said, she continued to struggle in communicating where the nearest bathroom was in english. After I had directed her, she walked away but not before I could catch her last words.
“Nakaka nosebleed.”
Nosebleed is Filipino slang for, ‘it’s difficult to talk in English’.
Despite not being able to speak the language doesn’t mean that I’m not a full-fledged Filipino by heart! I’m proud to be apart of a culture that values ‘pakikipagkapwa-tao’ - family, community, hospitality, creativity, humour, and faith. One thing can be said about Filipino heritage is that they’re resilient, hard-working, and can make the best out of any situation they find themselves in.
All this brings to mind my grandmother’s struggles and triumphs to bring us to where we are now. But that’s another story…
This post meets the conventions of a memoir text type as it drew from Erika's own personal experience/interaction with language, discussing her struggle with maintaining her Tagalog dialect. In the memoir, she not only gives reflections, but excerpts from real times of which she had interacted with language (i.e. Lady at the mall conversation). However, although she establishes her struggle, in the end Erika makes a statement saying that language has little correlation with one's own nationality, as it is the pride in one's own heart that determines who you are.
ReplyDeleteIf there were to be any improvement, it would be purely structural as the content was very well thought out. What is meant by this, is that sometimes the wording or form of sentences would create a choppy-like flow, which could pollute the reader's understanding of the text.
Other than that, great job!
I really enjoyed reading this memoir because the evidence (story of woman in mall) backed up with the explanation of how you're proud to be Filipino and not speaking the language doesn't mean you aren't. I can relate to that. I liked how you gave us a background explanation on how your mother and father speak two different dialects. That helps when explaining the different meanings of words between the two. To improve this memoir further, you could possibly add any of your experiences in the Philippines. Overall, great piece of writing.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post. I loved how you incorporated a lot of your mother tongue language into this and it was interesting to see how two Filipino dialects can be so different like how, Habul in Tagalog means accompany but in Hiligaynon it means blanket. The recount of your story was well structured and it shows the struggle of non-native English speakers trying to communicate. Your use of language style and topic was also engaging for the reader. One improvement would be to further talk about how this has impacted you/ identity because that part of the memoir seems quite brief but otherwise well done!
ReplyDeleteouuu, I really liked that! You really hit on every aspect of the conventions. You used a lot of dialogue in your memoir (story at the mall) along with voice (direct narration), and anecdotal (childhood experiences). I really like the way you were comparing and contrasting the 2 different dialects. To be honest with you I had NO idea that there were different dialects in Tagalog, especially THAT different. I find it really interesting how one language can have such wide variety of tone and vocabulary to the point in which it can become another language on its own. Something that would make this even better would be if you reflected on how not being so familiar with your Tagalog has maybe negatively impacted your life, or ways that it shaped your identity.
ReplyDeleteYou did a little bit of everything here, which I loved. You talked about a specific event in your life (learning/trying to understand Tagalog), however you also expanded on it, bringing in multiple examples of your struggle with the language which I really liked. You also incorporated some dialogue into your memoir, but also writing a few sentences in Tagalog and Hiligaynon which I loved. It did not distract you from what was going on, and made the text more personal and insightful. You created your own personality in this text, writing with a formal diction, and expressed a lot of your feelings about being Filipino, which has a huge affect on your personality. I can relate somewhat to your experiences, as I do struggle sometimes when speaking Icelandic in a formal tone, but I am still fluent. I never knew that there were different Filipino languages, so it was nice to learn that. The one improvement I can think of, would be to maybe to talk more about yourself now, and how you feel about this struggle in more detail.
ReplyDelete